Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 cup beef suet, chopped fine; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 egg, beaten; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 cup milk; 2 cups bread crumbs; ¾ cup brown sugar; ¾ cup figs, chopped fine

Why it works: Milk and fig are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the bread crumbs and brown sugar, then mix in the suet and chopped figs.
Stir in the beaten egg and milk until well combined.

Steam and serve

Turn the mixture into a well-greased mold and steam for 3 hours.
Serve with nutmeg sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,026 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + figtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,032 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Baking powder: Releases gas that lifts the batter so the pudding is lighter.
Egg: Binds the ingredients and helps set the pudding's texture.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and add body, giving the pudding a tender crumb.
Figs: Contribute sweetness, moisture, and their characteristic fruity flavor.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, beef, egg, milk, bread, sugar):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figthe original
Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, egg, milk, bread, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.